Sobhraj to appeal against life sentence

Page Tools

Sobhraj maintains his cool demeanour as police lead him away after his conviction in Kathmandu.Picture:AP

The notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj has expressed outrage after a Nepalese court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Sobhraj, also known as the "Serpent" and the "Bikini Killer", said he would appeal the sentence imposed on Thursday that found him guilty of killing an American backpacker in 1975.

"I am shocked," Sobhraj said as he walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs. He has already spent 20 years in jail in India for a string of crimes, including murder and robbery.

"I have been found guilty without witnesses and evidence. Not a single witness was called," said Sobhraj. "We are going to appeal."

The 60-year-old French national had resurfaced last year when he was arrested at a Kathmandu casino. Freed in 1997 after 21 years in prison in India, he was sentenced to life in jail by Kathmandu District Judge Biswanbhar Prasad Shrestha.

He was found guilty of killing US tourist Connie Bronizch, whose charred remains were discovered in 1975 during the heyday of the Kathmandu hippie scene. He has also been accused of the murder in Kathmandu of Canadian hiker Laurent Armand Carrierre.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

He now has the right to appeal to a higher court. Nepal does not have the death penalty.

Born in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj allegedly left Nepal after the 1975 killings using a false passport.

Believed to be a compulsive gambler, he was taken into custody in September 2003 at the casino of a luxury hotel in Kathmandu.

He once told his biographer, Richard Neville: "As long as I can talk to people, I can manipulate them."